Today, we continue on the journey of the expert SEO agency that’s been working with their client, Edelweiss Bakery, to increase the bakery website’s online visibility.
Thanks to the agency’s hard work, the bakery’s website increased organic traffic by 214%!
The agency also started to optimize the bakery’s blog to gain additional traffic and conversions. In the previous episodes of the SEO Reality Show dedicated to blog creation, the agency completed the following:
- Topic research and analysis
- Content plan
- Impactful blog theme
- Technical content brief
- Blog technical audit
With all of this preparation in place, the agency was ready to create the content itself! And since they had developed an ambitious content plan (with a goal of publishing around 14 articles per month), they knew that outsourcing the content writing was their best option to achieve their goals on deadline.
The Process
To deliver high-quality content at the kind of volume that would allow the bakery to publish posts as often as the agency thought was beneficial, outsourcing was a given. But, with so many options available to the agency, the challenge became selecting the best freelance model that would work for the bakery.
Fortunately, our partner SEO agency is an expert at sourcing both internal and external content writing resources for their clients. One of the external resources the agency relies on is the Semrush’s Content Marketplace, which makes it easy for clients to receive quality blog posts quickly.
So today, we’ll walk you through the process of HOW this agency created an article about the Authentic Bavarian Pretzel Recipe (Laugenbrezeln) using the Content Marketplace.
Step 1 — Creating an account & adding funds
First, the agency went to https://www.semrush.com/marketplace/, signed up, and chose the basic subscription plan to get started. They then added funds to their account balance that could be used to generate content.
Below, you’ll see the landing page that customers find when they’ve come to the Content Marketing Place:
Step 2 — Placing an order
Once you have an account with the Content Marketplace, you can choose what type of content you want to have created, and the target word count. In this case, the agency purchased a 1500-word article on the topic “Authentic German Soft Pretzel Recipe.”
Step 3 — Filling out the brief
In order to deliver high-quality results that the client will be happy with, the Content Marketplace asks subscribers/requesters to fill out detailed briefs. This gives the content writer the instructions they need to proceed and it helps give you a desirable end result without having to clarify and communicate back and forth with the writer.
When ordering content, the agency provided the copywriter with the following information:
- The article’s desired tone and essential brand language
- The desired format of the article
- The article’s target audience
- The article’s subject and keyword
- The story arc
- Similar articles on this subject that could be used for inspiration
- The expected results
The agency included a link to the article's technical content brief, (which was developed in the previous episode).
By setting parameters like tone of voice, target customer, content language, and suggested keywords, the requester gets the first draft that more closely aligns with their initial vision for the project. This is especially helpful for busy agencies like our partner, who have multiple clients to attend to and might not have the resources to be making tons of comments and corrections in a first draft.
Step 4 — Reviewing the first draft
The article was ready two days after the agency placed the order. And while the first draft was well constructed and on target, they took several steps to ensure that the quality was as precise as it could possibly be.
They used the following criteria to check the content quality:
- Visual evaluation of the article's conformity to the specified format from the perspective of the technical brief
- Checking for keyword density to detect spam, using the Keyword Density Checker → SEO Review Tools
- Running the content through Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant to assess it for readability, tone of voice, and SEO optimization
- Proofreading by an editor at the agency for both factual or grammatical errors
Verification by Semrush SEO Writing Assistant
Let’s look a little deeper at the example of how the agency used Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant tool to check the overall content quality. The tool provides insights on the following parameters:
- SEO
- Readability
- Tone of voice
- Uniqueness (originality)
First, you need to go to the Content Marketing dashboard, select Optimize it, then Check content, and click Quick check.
After that, enter your text and run the check. The service shows you the content quality based on each of the 4 parameters in the internal evaluation system. It also shows detailed suggestions for areas of improvement.
When the agency plugged the content into the SEO Writing Assistant, the text received a score of 9.1/10.
This was the detailed breakdown:
- SEO — The main keywords and suggested keywords had been added.
- Readability — 71%, some improvements needed
- Tone of voice — 98% match
- Originality — 100%
Step 5 — Sending the article for revision
If you are not completely satisfied with the article, you can leave comments and request a revision directly in the tool. In our agency partner’s case, they added several comments in the Content Marketplace writer’s Google Doc, offering suggestions and directly requesting edits from the content writer.
Step 6 — Order Confirmation
After a three-day revision period, the agency rechecked the article and was satisfied with the result.
They downloaded the content in ZIP format, which contained the HTML file to immediately upload to the website, txt, and a separate picture in JPG format. They were able to upload the article almost instantly and then move on to the next content piece for the blog, helping them get closer to achieving their lofty goal of 14 pieces per month.
Next Up
Today we looked at how easy it can be to outsource some of your content to high-quality content marketing platforms like Semrush’s Content Marketplace so that you can create valuable content at a high volume.
This concludes our focus on the creation and promotion of the bakery’s blog, but our SEO Reality Show isn’t over yet!
In the next episode, we’ll discuss how the agency developed and optimized one of the most important website sections — the “Shop” section. Stay tuned!
Infographic - How to Create Blog Content
